From A Different Angle
by Alethianess
Summary: Smallville takes on a new turn through the eyes of a newcomer. Chapter 3 is up! Please Read and Review.
1. Default Chapter

From a Different Angle

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville, or any of the bands, songs or names mentioned; I do not even own my characters because I do not have a copyright on them. However, I doubt anybody except me will know how to write for them.-).

Summary: A New Student at Smallville High, and for once she's not a freak.

A/N: Please review and tell me if I should continue or not, since I usually have a biased opinion of my work (who doesn't?), and I don't care about flames…fire's pretty…

A/N 2: The words with stars around them are lyrics… 

In a perfect world,

this would never happen.

In a perfect world,

You'd still be here… 

The whiney voices of Simple Plan resonated through Sarah's ears as she walked down the hall thinking, _What is a perfect world anyway? There's no such thing._ In a perfect world, she wouldn't be here, pining away in the corridors of Smallville High. She'd be back in the peaceful suburbs of Maryland, completely aware of her surroundings and both socially and physically active again.

It had been two weeks since Sarah had arrived in this quiet, yet intriguing, rural town. It had been a week since she had run out of steam. She had stopped trying to snoop and pry around the town. She figured if she was supposed to know, she would. By that time, it had been too late to try out for autumn sports, and too early to start practicing for lacrosse, if they had a team, that is.

Sarah knew that all the open fields and bright colors should be helping energize her, not de-energize her, but she couldn't find anything to do. Every night, she went to bed feeling she hadn't accomplished anything, and when she finally got to sleep, her dreams were even more restless than in reality.

The last thing she had left was music. It was her lifeline now, the only thing between her and complete and utter boredom. She preferred to listen to Alternative Rock, Green Day and Blink-182, but anything was acceptable to her. She'd grown up listening to the blues, spent her pre-adolescent years listening to 50's pop, and had only recently tuned into modern music. Soon she came to be known as, "That new girl with the headphones."

Sarah especially needed her music today. For this morning, Sarah's mom, Mrs.Tetch, had told Sarah she had volunteered her daughter for the school newspaper, The Torch. Aside from the chorus of, "Come on baby, light my fire," popping into Sarah's head, (the curse of the musically obsessed) she was completely shocked. Except for a Journalism class she had taken last year, Sarah had no training at all. She knew for a fact that she sucked at being a reporter.

"What? W..why?" Sarah had stammered.

"So you can find something to do. For the past two weeks you've literally been locked up in your room."

So after fighting a battle she already knew she had lost, Sarah reluctantly agreed to "give it a try." At least the Newspaper counted as an English grade, meaning she didn't have to sit through that boring class again. She was to start at the paper during fifth period, and she had just gotten out of second. A sure to be long day stretched before her.

Sarah entered Science with a heavy heart, all she wanted to do was fall asleep on the desk. Then, the person next to her started to talk. It had taken two weeks, but someone had finally noticed her. Simple Plan was drowning out the girl's voice, but Sarah quickly pulled out her headphones to hear what the student had to say.

"..the new girl, right? I've heard a bit about you, but I wanted to find out myself. Sarah, right? Oh, it wasn't bad things, just the run-of-the-mill new girl rumors." The girl comforted. She had strawberry-blond hair, and a very cheery face. Not that Sarah really cared, but she noticed that the girl was wearing blue jeans and a boyfriend sweater, the kind Sarah could tell was bought at the Gap and not, in fact, given to her by her boyfriend.

Sarah also noticed how she might look against this girl. Sarah's dark brown hair was tied back into a mess ponytail, since she hadn't really expected anyone to pay special attention to her. She had slipped on a pair of rugged jeans, that she had had for about a year, and it showed. There were slight stains here and there, not really noticeable, but enough to show that they held many memories. The pants reminded her of home. However, the shirt was brand new, since her mother had considerately taken her shopping the day after they had arrived. It was from Pac Sun, and had a bright yellow ducky on the back. The girls face was extremely cheery, compared to Sarah's ghostly appearance. Her new friend's attitude was almost creepy, if you asked Sarah, but then again, her idea of a good time now was sitting alone in her room…

"Um…I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Mindy D." She gushed.

"Oh, are there a lot of Mindy's in the school, then?" Sarah inquired, noticing the almost elementary technique of using initials to separate one person from another.

" I guess. I'd have to say about fourteen."

"Oh. That's a high number." Sarah said, slightly amazed.

"Are you okay?" Mindy misinterpreted. "I can take you to the nurse if you want me to, let me ask the teacher…" Sarah interrupted Mindy before she could raise her hand and cause a disturbance.

"Oh no, I'm fine." Sarah assured. "I'm just having a hard time trying to …" She had lost track of thought, before now she hadn't noticed exactly how much sleep she'd been losing. Or maybe Mindy was just wearing her out.

"…adjust?" Mindy supplied, "Yeah, that took me a while too. When I moved here from Metropolis, everything was just so…colorful, I mean, really…"

"Metropolis?" Sarah interrupted.

"You know that huge skyline that's looming over every corner of the town?"

" Um..yeah, I think I passed it on the way in."

"That's Metropolis."

"Oh."

"Oh, home, sweet, home, did you know there's a Pulitzer prize winning newspaper from there? It's called the Daily Planet…Only the best reporters work there." Mindy rambled on.

"How great." Sarah said, attempting to be enthusiastic.

Mindy rambled on for most of the next class and a half. The only time Sarah really paid attention was when she was talking about the cute guys. Not that Sarah cared, she just wanted to know who to stay away from.

"So, basically the main hottie in the school is Clark Kent. He's unmistakable; basically he's 6'2, wears plaid, and has the most gorgeous smile anyone has ever seen."

"Actually, I don't think I've seen him." Sarah would have remembered running into a primary colored giant.

"Humph, well of course, he wasn't that popular when Whitney was in the spotlight."

"Who's he?" Sarah asked. She was actually learning something about this school now.

"He was the star quarterback during his freshman year. And Lana Lang's boyfriend for a couple of years, instantly making him the cutest guy to go out with." Seeing Sarah's confused look, which Mindy had gotten used to already, Mindy continued. "Lana Lang is the prettiest girl in school. She was a cheerleader freshman year and now she owns the Talon."

"Oh," Sarah, not quite listening again. Then she realized something peculiar. " Was?"

Mindy grew solemn. "Whitney joined the marines early last year. He… he died in battle. It was the saddest thing. Lana was depressed for a week. Or so I hear."

Suddenly moving didn't seem like such a big deal. " Oh, I'm so sorry. Wow, no one died at my school. Sure, there were riffs but…"

"Well, it happens abnormally abundant here. I mean, it's sad and everything. I really miss everyone, and feel sorry. But it happens, so you sort of learn to deal with it."

"Oh." Sarah didn't quite know what to say. How could she comfort someone who didn't really need comforting? Or really, how could she comfort them at all? Sarah wasn't the greatest with words, and she really didn't want to say anything offensive or awkward.

Thankfully the bell rang. And Mindy had a fun time telling Sarah all about where all the students ate. Basically Sarah had told Mindy that she had open lunch, which meant she could walk around her town and eat wherever as long as she was back in time. Mindy almost cried laughing so hard.

"Sorry," she said, recovering from her laughing fit. "It's just that there aren't many restaurants around here to go to. We all go to lunch in the cafeteria."

Mindy talked that whole time down to the lunch hall, and while they were waiting in the various lines and files, Sarah was introduced to Mindy's friends, or gang, or clique, or whatever. They invited her to sit with them, and she obliged. Against Sarah's best intentions, she droned out Mindy again, to think about, of all things, Mindy and her friends. Sarah was sure Mindy didn't mean to dominate the conversation, it was just her personality. And Sarah could see that all of Mindy's friends had come to the same conclusion. If someone had something to say, Mindy would consent, but then start talking directly afterwards, blocking out further argument. It would have gotten annoying to Sarah, but she actually kind of liked listening to Mindy, she already knew what to do and what not to do before she had to find out for herself.

Mindy D. didn't have fifth period with Sarah. It took a second to realize why not. Journalism. She had almost completely forgot, absorbed in what Mindy had been telling her about Halloween, which was coming up soon. Sarah's heart fell again. She had no idea what to expect from Journalism. She hadn't been smart enough to ask Mindy about it and the only newspaper related thing Mindy talked about was the Daily Planet, obviously her dream job. Sarah supposed she wouldn't have gotten an unbiased opinion anyway.

Sarah stepped into a brightly lit computer room, with files, desks, and papers galore. There was a blonde teen about her age sitting in front of one of the two computers typing rapidly, completely absorbed in what she was doing.

Not really wanting to interrupt, Sarah knocked on the side of the door lightly. "Hello?" she asked, trying to be as unassuming as she could, without looking like a mouse.

" Go back to class. I'm busy." The sturdy girl said, not lifting her eyes from the lights of the computer.

"Um…I think I am in class." Sarah replied, realizing her voice was just a tiny bit off from cracking. Why was she so intimidated by this girl?

"Oh." The girl finally looked up and tried to give a welcoming smile. Sarah could tell the girl wanted to go back to whatever she was doing on the computer. _Most likely writing an article, genius_, Sarah scolded herself. "I'm Chloe," the girl continued, standing up. "Um…you didn't by chance happen to sign up for this class out of your own free will, did you?"

"You can see right through me like that?" Sarah grinned; she had the inkling of a feeling that this 'class' wouldn't be that bad.

Chloe nodded, "Yeah, well, you don't really look like you're ready to go out on the front line."

Sarah nodded her head in agreement. "Well, you can go back to your article if you want. I can um…sit and read?" Sarah proposed. There was a very inviting red couch on one side of the wall. And above it there was a huge wall of newspaper clippings that looked quite interesting. On closer speculation, she found that most of them had the words 'mutant' and 'freak' linked to them.

"What is that?" Sarah asked, pointing to the wall, just as Chloe was settling herself back down to her computer.

"That," Chloe said, gazing lovingly at the wall, "is my prize possession, or possessions, I call it the Wall of Weird. We had a huge meteor shower twelve years ago that affected a lot of people. They developed some really strange abilities like transforming and some people could even split themselves in two. I'm not weirding you out, am I?" Chloe asked. Sarah realized there was slight look of shock on her face.

"Well, not really. It's just so amazing. I didn't know any of this stuff happened, and you must deal with it every other week." Chloe nodded in agreement.

"The life of a reporter," she sighed. Then she flashed Sarah another smile, and started to type rapidly on the keyboard again. Sarah set her bag down on one of the cushions, and plopped herself down on the other one. She reached for her iPod, her prize possession, it had been one of the only reasons she had consented to come to Smallville.

Three songs, and surely a page and a half of articles, later, a huge teenager ambled in. Sarah looked up and saw that he matched the perfect description that Mindy D. had given her. Dark brown hair matched with blue eyes that Sarah had to crane her neck up to see, he was wearing a worn-out red plaid shirt, obviously his favorite, and some jeans, in which his hands were modestly placed in the back pockets. It didn't take a second for Sarah to realize that this was Clark Kent.

Another A/N: Okay, I'm actually going to do something with this story. I'm having slight plot bunny problems though, anyone have any ideas on how the first conversation should go? If not, I'll try to update as soon as I can.


	2. Getting to Know You

A/N: Whoo! Second chapter! I usually don't get past the first, so I'm quite happy. Now all I have to do is work out the plot bunny issues…Hmmm…Any suggestions?

2 A/N: Okay, so I made somewhat of a drastic change. I was going to start this story from after Magnetic and before Shattered, but I decided I would start during season two before Rush since it would be way more fun…so please excuse any friction in the timeline…and for this fanfic to work, we're going to pretend that Slumber is never going to happen, okay?

"Hey, Chloe, could you do a favor for me?" Clark said with ease as he

walked into the room. Noticing Sarah he smiled an extremely innocent and captivating smile, like one of those Oral B commercials. "So, you're the new girl." He directed toward her. "I've heard about you."

"Really?" Sarah said, surprised for about the fiftieth time that day. "I mean.. I didn't really know that…um…so what have you heard?" How could she have been so stupid as to suppose that no one had noticed her for two weeks? It was probably the fact that no one cared enough to find out from Sarah herself that no one had talked to her.

"Not much," Clark said, trying to keep from laughing as he saw the girl stumbling over her words. He was used to girls reacting to him this way by now, but this was pure nervousness. "Just your name and where you're from. Oh, and that apparently you have a fantastic taste in music."

Sarah grinned. So word _had_ gotten around.

"Sorry to interrupt," Chloe said, "but didn't you have something to ask me?" She looked expectantly at Clark.

"Oh yeah, I wanted you to check up on a kid called Joyce Richards. You know, maybe go through some FED files." Clark gave Chloe his sparkling lopsided grin.

"Um, Clark?" Chloe asked, putting on her best innocent face. She didn't fool anyone. "Isn't that illegal?"

"That never seemed to bother you be…" Clark suddenly became apprehensive of everyone in the room before he finished his sentence. "…fore."

"Oh, um, I think I'll skip the period. I trust you won't tell on me." Sarah said to Chloe. She quickly walked out and spent the rest of the period in one of the bathroom stalls. Listening to music.

As Sarah walked in the front door, she gladly dumped her backpack near the stairs, and moved towards the back of her new house. It was a pleasant house, with a white exterior and a wrap-around porch. Inside, a stairway in the main hall was on the right, while the living room lead to a kitchen on the left. Almost all the rooms were connected in a sort of semi-circular maze. The house was small and pretty, (Sarah's stuff had already cluttered her considerably bigger bedroom) and she wasn't too disappointed with the fact that it was across from Clark Kent's farm.

"Honey?" Sarah's mother's voice rang out, "back from school so early?"

"Ha ha," Sarah replied, she wasn't too happy with the fact that her mom's new job didn't need her to go to an office. Sarah loved her mother, for sure, but she didn't need her home every hour of the day.

"It wasn't that bad, was it? Didn't you make some new friends today?"

"Sure, fourteen Mindys, ten Johns, nine Lauras and four Jacobs." This, in fact, was true. Apparently, originality of names didn't run high in small towns.

"Well, at least you won't confuse yourself with someone else who has your name." Mrs. Tetch said, forever the optimistic.

"They don't even have a Starbucks," Sarah replied dryly.

"Oh," In the Tetch household, Starbucks had been about the only place that the two girls could agree on.

"Instead, there's some coffee slash movie house called the Talon. It's run by some girl named Lana Lang." Sarah continued, glad to know something about the town now.

"Oh!" Mrs. Tetch exclaimed, "Lana Lang? I think she owned this house before us."

"Really?" Sarah asked.

"Oh yes, Lana Lang was before the Thompsons and the Jeffersons."

"And this is all in the past year? What, is this the only house up for sale?"

"I guess so, honey. It's a pretty small town," Her mother stated.

"I didn't notice…" Sarah said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

" Tell you what, how about we check out the Talon before your dad gets home? It shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Going in there the first time with my mom? No offense, but…"

"Alright," her mother sighed, "you win. How about I drive and we can talk on the way there?"

"Deal."

It doesn't take long to describe the heart of Smallville. There was a huddle of buildings; the high schools and middle schools all clumped together at one end of the map, while the elementary schools were all at the other. In between were some convenience stores, appliance stores, flower shops, farming equipment, all within walking distance of another.

The Talon towered over it all. It gazed out from the center of street, the skyscraper of the town. It still had its authentic 50's movie sign that glowed neon during the night. On one side it showed what movie was playing, "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer," and on the other side it had coffee advertisements, "Coffee for your morning rush."

Sarah and her mom pulled up beside the sidewalk. Sarah could see into the glass doors, but got a somewhat distorted picture of the inside, since there was another set of glass doors obstructing the view.

"So, are you ready to make the scene?" Her mother asked. Sarah loved her mother, but she wished she would stop trying to be modern and just go with the flow sometimes.

"I guess so." Sarah replied.

"Have you got cash?"

"Enough for a coffee drink."

"Okay, call me when you need a ride home."

"I think I could walk."

"Okay, just call then."

Sarah started to get out of the car. "Bye, mom."

"Bye, sweets." Sarah shuddered inwardly.

However, the second she stepped inside both sets of doors, she wished her mom was there, for the mere purpose of someone to sit with and talk to. Everywhere there were people talking and laughing, lost in their own little world of friends and, in some cases, family. People didn't seem to be so conscious of being seen with relatives here.

Sarah looked around, but she couldn't find Mindy or the others. She did, however, spot Clark, Chloe, and a dark-skinned boy hunched together, whispering rapidly. After today's slight embarrassment, Sarah decided against walking up to them just yet.

As she walked through the restaurant, she noticed the decorations. The wall was a dull yellow covered with hieroglyphics and colorful pictures. There was a staircase at the right that led up to an open door that looked like a storeroom. There were small round tables in different colors spread around the room. Cluttered enough to set a friendly atmosphere, but empty in spaces so people wouldn't get claustrophobic. She would have to commend the decorator for the nice job.

Sarah took one of the seats near the back of the coffee house, a little to the left when you walked in. She was partially secluded from the rest of the crowd, but Sarah didn't really care since she had a nice, quiet view of most of the people in the Talon. She had barely settled down when a very pretty teenager with a very forlorn look on her face came up to her table. She was obviously there to take her order since she carried around the mandatory spiral pad and pen, with a tray full of coffee balanced on her other hand. She had long, straight dark brown hair, very clear green eyes and forever tan skin.

"Hey. You're new here, aren't you?" She asked, putting down the tray. Apparently, she intended to get to know Sarah better.

_What? Do I have a sign saying 'New here, ask me!' taped to my shirt today?_

Of course, Sarah didn't tell the waitress this. Instead she said, "Yeah, I'm Sarah Tetch," rather lamely. "And you are?.." She asked, careful not to say it rudely.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm Lana Lang. I actually own the Talon." She explained as if shaking out of a reverie. "Actually, I co-own it with Lex Luthor. Have you heard of him? He's a billionare. But basically I run it by myself."

Sarah started to worry whether everyone in this town talked incessantly, when all of the sudden.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I'm boring you to death aren't I?" Lana looked horrified at what she had just done.

"I wouldn't go that far." Sarah said with a smile, but then asked, "Are you okay?" Clearly this girl was dealing with some very emotional problems.

"Well, my old friend just impersonated my old boyfriend, Whitney, and then tried to date me, then kill me…"

"Wow."

"Yeah, I mean, I should get over it, it was four weeks ago. Plus the fact that Lionel Luthor just got shot, so all the attention should probably go to him…but it's not really something you get over in an hour, you know?"

"Wow." Sarah didn't know what to say. She had never been shot at, or had an attempted murder aimed at her. It seemed that the small town life would end up being bigger than the city life.

"Oh, oops sorry." Lana said, snapping out of her reverie again. As Sarah had been pondering the mysteriousness of the town, Lana had gone into one of her dazes. "I'm on the clock. What can I get for you?"

"Can I have a mocha? What sizes do you have?"

"No sizes, just one huge cup." Lana replied with a smile, standing up and jotting notes down on her pad.

"Okay, that's fine."

After Lana walked away, Sarah turned her attention back to the inhabitants of the restaurant. Obviously, the deep discussion Clark, Chloe and the other guy were having was over because now they were sitting back and relaxing.

When Lana came over to take their orders, there was an obvious tension between the four of them, coupled with lots of smiles. It didn't take Sarah long to figure out what was going on. Basic human nature was Sarah's specialty.

First up were Clark and Lana, they were very tense around each other, and kept staring into one another's eyes. Obviously, they were taking a step forward, then a step back in their relationship. Then Chloe kept interrupting with what Sarah assumed were jokes, because everyone started smiling again. Sarah assumed that she was smitten with Clark by the way her eyes bored him every time he looked at Lana. After that, came the least obvious one, sitting to the left from Clark, across from Chloe. He seemed uncomfortable in the situation, like all he wanted to do was hang out with his friends, and not have any worries. He smiled at all of Chloe's jokes, not more than the other three did, but in a way that said that he adored her.

The strangest part was, they couldn't see what was right in front of their faces. Clark paid almost no attention to how Chloe was drooling over him, and Chloe had the same oblivious look that Clark had about the other guy (she wished she knew his name). It had taken about five minutes for Sarah to analyze all this.

See? Sitting alone in a corner booth isn't all that bad.

7


	3. The Winds They Are A Blowin'

Five minutes later, Lana came over with Sarah's order. Sarah took the cup, thanked Lana, and unconsciously continued to look toward the threesome.

"Do you want to go meet them?" Lana asked, interpreting Sarah's gaze.

"Huh?" Sarah hadn't noticed that Lana was still standing there. "Oh, yeah, sure." She might as well meet the new kid, also while being able to talk to the other two again.

"Okay, well, you need to stand up first." Lana said with a smile. Sarah got up and followed Lana as they made their way over to the small table. While they were walking, Sarah made a point of telling Lana that she had just moved in to Lana's old house.

"Oh, really? I thought that house would never be lived in again." The comment struck Sarah as odd, but she decided to leave it for later since they were already at the table.

"Hey guys, I want you to meet Sarah. Sarah, this is Clark, Chloe, and Pete." Lana said, gesturing to each person respectively.

"Hey everyone." Sarah said, coming to the realization that she was being introduced to the same people twice. The others didn't seem to mind though.

They all said 'Hey' in unison and offered her a seat. Pete was the first to talk to Sarah after Lana had gone to fix their orders.

"So, Sarah, why'd you decide to move to little ol' Smallville?" He asked with ease.

"My dad's starting a business here, thought it would be better to start somewhere new instead of competing with all the other big companies in the city." Sarah replied. She drummed her fingers on the table. Apparently, that wasn't really allowed in Smallville, because all three of them sort of stared at her until she stopped.

_Really off to a great start, aren't I?_

"So, do all of you work on the Tattler?" She asked.

"Well, Clark is sort of a reporter when he has the time." Chloe said, "And Pete just comes along because he's a good photographer. It's actually basically the three of us."

"You guys run the whole school newspaper all by yourselves?" Sarah asked in amazement. "I mean, no other reporters or anything?"

" One or two, enough to get by." Clark replied, grinning, " but yeah, it's mostly us."

By this time, Lana had returned with all the drinks.

"It's really amazing what you guys all do." I said, as Lana circled the table, placing everyone's drink in front of them. "I mean, running a school newspaper, owning a restaurant. Are you sure you're teenagers?" She joked.

Sarah never got an answer, because at that moment, the double doors ripped open and a crazy wind started rushing through the Talon. Papers scattered through the air and some unlucky customers screamed as their cups got knocked over and coffee got spilled onto their laps. The wind seemed to be relentless, like the tide, one strong wave after another. By this time, Sarah's hair was clean out of her ponytail and it whipped against her face, making it hard to concentrate and see in front of her. She made it to the floor as fast as she could, and followed the hazy outline of who she thought was Chloe to behind the counter.

The noise subsided significantly behind the counter, and she could finally start to feel her face again. She looked around while she tried to regulate her hair into a ponytail. As far as she could tell, all of the customers had followed suit and crawled their way behind the counter. Pete, Chloe, Lana...everyone was there except one person. With fear, Sarah raised her head over the counter, feeling the full blast of the wind yet again. She could see a dark, tall and broad figure walking towards the doors, seemingly unaware of the danger he was facing.

"CLARK!" Sarah screamed out loud, and then again, "CLARK!"

The figure kept moving towards the door.

Sarah felt a tug on the edge of her shirt, begging her to come out of the wind. She twisted and slid down the safe side of the counter.

"It's no use," Chloe informed her, "there's no way he's going to listen to you. He has some kind of hero complex."

"But that wind could kill him!" Sarah exclaimed. "There might be a tornado or something out there, and we have no clue!"

"Try telling that to him," Pete said drily, "maybe it'll work this time."

"What could be causing that?" Sarah asked. Obviously everyone else was accustomed to Clark putting his life on the line daily. And emergencies like this seem to be part of the agenda, but not to Sarah.

"I have some theories," Chloe said. Pete and Lana looked at her. "Albeit, they may be far-stretched. But I've had an amazing record of being right so far."


End file.
